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A Day In the Life

Early Childhood

Kindergarten students arrive and settle into their homecorner by writing in their journals. Today, they are writing one word that describes how they feel. Students also draw a picture to supplement the prompt as the teacher supports student writing individually.

Morning Meeting begins. It's the 86th day of school! Students are counting up to the 100th day and their big 100s day celebration. Morning Meeting is also an opportunity for students to greet each other, learn routines associated with each day of the week, and even identify sight words that are in the morning message.

After Morning Meeting, some students head to the Library. Typically during Library time, the Library teachers begin with a read-aloud tied to the current unit or theme being studied in class. Then, students have the opportunity to explore new titles and read them individually or with friends.

During all four seasons, kindergarten has two outdoor breaks each school day. The time spent on the 15-acre campus is an intentional part of the School's Early Childhood Curriculum. The role of physical and social development during these early years is what sets the foundation for students to excel.

In science class, students explore the natural world and tinker with objects to discover scientific concepts. By exploring the conditions needed for a gyroscope to spin quickly, students are learning how to think like scientists.

After lunch, students break up into smaller groups to work on targeted skills. The first group begins a unit on food and nutrition. Their teacher, Trish, introduces the concept of nutrition by letting students share what they already know. After describing the five food types, students then take turns sorting different types of plastic foods.

Each day concludes with choice time, where Pre-Kindergarten joins Kindergarten for a variety of group and individual activities. Some students continue to write words. Others may be playing store, and some prefer to do a puzzle individually. Throughout the time, teachers facilitate new discoveries and mitigate potential conflicts that arise.

At Morning Meeting, students review the schedule and greet each other in sign language, going around in a circle. This year, students have had an interest in learning how to sign with their student teachers from Gallaudet, a university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing located in Washington, DC.

Students head to the Center for PE class. This week, they are starting a unit on floor hockey. PE teacher Derek goes over safety procedures for handling the sticks before demonstrating a mini-lesson on the face-off. Students are then broken up into five teams to scrimmage in five-minute segments.

Once back in homecorner, Marcia begins a math lesson on rounding numbers to the nearest hundredth. Using the Smartboard, she checks for students' understanding by explaining the concept of rounding to the nearest tenth. Then, she applies the same concept of rounding to the hundredth place. Students take turns solving rounding problems on the Smartboard.

After math, students head to the Art Room. Students begin work on an amusement park mapping project that integrates social studies concepts into creative and artistic endeavors of designing a park around a particular theme.

Following lunch and another outside break, students head back to their homeroom and read individually for 30 minutes. Marcia uses this time to conference with individual students to check their progress and assess key skills like fluency and vocabulary.

Marcia explains a math activity that will give students individual practice rounding numbers to the nearest hundredth. Students each draw three number cards, record the three-digit number, and then record the nearest hundredth. Marcia circulates to add digits to the process in order to challenge some students.

Next, Marcia lets students know that they will be using today's extended homecorner to make triple-berry crunch in the kitchen. The project is a culmination of their study of Native American culture, but is also an opportunity to apply the concept of rounding.

Once during each six-day rotation of the Middle School's schedule, students participate in an Activity Period of their choosing. Today, they visit the Activity Period Fair to see what options are available for the second trimester. Students rank their top three choices.

After school, the 5/6 girls' basketball team travels to The Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy for a game. Green Acres' After-School Athletic Program is open to all students in grades 5 through 8 and has a unique "no-cut" policy.

Explore Green Acres...

Green Acres School is a national leader in progressive education for children age 3 to grade 8. Located in North Bethesda, Maryland—minutes from I-270, Old Georgetown Road, and Rockville Pike—the entire 15-acre campus is a classroom, and learning takes place both indoors and outside.